Refrigerator door



June 23, 1959 C. LAKE 2,891,834

' REFRIGERATOR DOOR Filed Aug. 2, 1956 2 Sheets-Sheet i a/ Fig. 3

Lawrence 6. Lake INVENTOR.

June 23, 1959 c. LAKE 2,891,334

- REFRIGERATOR DOOR Filed Aug. 2, 1956. v 2 SheetsSheet 2 Fig.2

Lawrence 6. Lake IN VEN TOR.

BY MM 19% United States Patent REFRIGERATOR DOOR Lawrence C. Lake,Kenmore, N.Y.

Application August 2, 1956, Serial No. 601,669

2 Claims. (Cl. 312-307 This invention relates to refrigerator casingsand more particularly to a refrigerator door.

An object of the present invention is to provide a refrigerator casingwith a novel door construction facilitating very rapid and easy accessto the interior of the casing and avoiding the necessity for havingspace in a room reserved for the door swing as is the instance inpresently available refrigerators.

A further object of the present invention is to provide a structurallysimplified, practical cabinet for a refrigerator wherein the doors liftand lower respectively in order to have access to the interior of therefrigerator.

These together with other objects and advantages which will becomesubsequently apparent reside in the details of construction andoperation as more fully hereinafter described and claimed, referencebeing had to the accompanying drawings forming a part hereof, whereinlike numerals refer to like parts throughout, and in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a refrigerator constructed inaccordance with the principles of the invention;

Figure 2 is a longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure1;

Figure 3 is an enlarged sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of Figure2;

Figure 4 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view taken approximately onthe line 4-4 of Figure 2; and

Figure 5 is a perspective view of one of the doors constituting a partof the invention.

In the accompanying drawing there is shown a refrigerator which includesa casing or cabinet 12 constructed in accordance with the principles ofthe invention. The casing has a back wall 14, a front wall 16, a topwall 18, bottom wall and two side walls 22 and '24 respectively. Thesewalls are of double thickness, with the wall thicknesses being spaced toprovide a pocket in which insulation is disposed. The lower part of thecasing need not be insulated inasmuch as it accommodates therefrigeration mechanism, including a motor, compressor and controlscarried by a horizontal panel 26. The condenser 28 is located on theexterior of the casing as is customary at the present time, and theevaporator 30 is disposed in the casing, above a tray 32. Conventionalaccessories such as an automatic defrosting device, etc., may beprovided, if so desired.

Side walls 22 and 24 have forwardly extending, approximatelysemi-circular arcuate parts 36 and 38 on the sides of the frontalopening 40 of the refrigerator casing. An upper track formed of a pairof identical rails 44 and 46 is fastened to the side walls including theprojecting parts 36 and 38 thereof. These rails forming the upper trackfor upper door 50 are arcuate and extend inwardly to approximately theback wall of the casing, where there is located a stop 52 in order tolimit the inward motion of the door in its track. In crosssection, eachrail 46 and 44 is angular, including a flange 54 that fits flush againstthe surface of one wall and an inwardly extending flange 56 that is atright angles to 2,891,834 Patented June 23, .1959

ice

flange 54 and on which the group of rollers on a side of the door 50 isseated. Y

The door 50 has a double thickness in order to hold insulation 60captive therein, this insulation being fiber glass or other standardinsulative lightweight material. The outer thickness 62 of the door andthe inner thickness 64 extend beyond the side edge wall 66' (Figure 4)so that the channel 68 may nest therein. This channel has parallelsides, between which the group of rollers 70 are mounted for rotation onindividual spindles. The inwardly protruding flange 56 of track 44(Figure '4) enters the channel 68 and forms a seat on which. the groupof rollers 70 are disposed.

The lower door 78 is arcuate in cross-section and is adapted to travelon lower track 80 consisting of a pair of rails 81 and 82 that areattached to the side walls '22 and 24 of the cabinet in a manner similarto the attachment of the upper track to the same side walls. The twotracks have confronting ends which, when opposed as shown in Figure 2,form one continuous track of almost circular form. Door 78 is limited inits inward travel by means of a stop 83 which is fixed at the innerextremity of one or both of the rails of track 80. In addition, the door78 has on its side edges groups of rollers 86 and 87 which are mountedfor travel on the inwardly directed flanges 88 and 89 of the rails 82and 81. In all respects, the upper and lower doors are the same, as arethe tracks on which they are operative.

When the doors are in the fully closed position, -the upper and sideedges thereof are sealed by means of resilient gaskets 90, the lowerdoor having gaskets91 functioning in the same manner. The confrontingends of the two doors when in the closed position are sealed by cominginto firm contact with the transverse resilient seal 93, as rubber orplastic, the latter being fixed to either one or both of the doors.

The upper door will remain closed by the pull of gravity and will remainopen in the same manner. The upper track is sufiiciently long so that amajor portion of the door is pushed over center, whereby the weight ofthe door will hold it against the stop 52. It will remain in the closedposition in the same manner, but to assure a tight seal, latches 98 and99 are carried by the upper door. door and are identical to the latches98 and 99. The latches 100 and 102 hold the lower door in the closedposition, it being opened by the pull of gravity. In Figure 3 thelatches 100 and 102 are illustrated in detail. They consist of a pair ofpush rods 104 and 106 which are slidable in sleeves 108 and 110, thelatter being in communication with receptacle 114 that is recessed inthe door. The push rods are passed through apertures in the side edgesof the door and are adapted to be projected into pockets 116 and 118that are formed in the side walls 22 and 32 in the region of the tracksfor the doors. A single spring 122 is seated between blocks 124 and 125that are attached to the inner ends of the push rods, whereby the springconstantly biases the push rods outwardly so as to be engaged in thepockets 116 and 118. Therefore, when the doors are pulled into theclosed position, the latches snap into the locked position.

In order to have access to the upper part or the lower part of therefrigerator, the respective doors may be opened. This will expose thetrays and any objects supported by the trays.

The foregoing is considered as illustrative only of the principles ofthe invention. Further, since numerous modifications and changes willreadily occur to those skilled in the art, it is not desired to limitthe invention to the exact construction and operation shown anddescribed, and accordingly all suitable modifications and Latches 100and 102 are carried by the lower equivalents may be resorted to, fallingwithin the scope of the invention as claimed.

What is claimed as new is as follows:

1. In a refrigerator casing the combination of a front wall having anopening, back, side and top and bottom walls, said side walls havingportions which project forwardly from the plane of the front wall, theside walls including the projecting portions thereof having means toaccommodate trays thereon, an upper circularly curved track carried bysaid side walls, a door having a curvature similar to the curvature ofsaid upper track, means mounting said door for sliding movement on saidtrack so as to close at least a part of said opening in said front wall,stop for said door to limit the extent of travel thereof, a latchcarried by said door to hold said door in a closed position, a secondcirculraly curved track carried by said side walls and having an endconfronting an end of said first mentioned track, a second door having acurvature similar to the curvature of said second track and mounted formovement thereon, a latch carried by said second door in order to holdsaid door in the closed position, a stop for said second door to limitthe extent of travel thereof, said upper track being of a sufficientlength that a major portion of said door is disposed forwardly of atransverse plane along the ver tical diameter of said track when saiddoor is in the closed position and rearwardly of said plane when in anopen position whereby said door may be held in the closed and openedpositions by gravity, said second track being of a sufficient lengththat a major portion of said second door is disposed forwardly of saidplane when said door is in the closed position and approximately halfthe door is rearwardly of said plane when said door is in the openposition whereby said door will be opened by gravity when its latch isreleased.

2. In a refrigerator casing, the combination of a front wall having anopening, a pair of side walls having por tions projecting forwardly fromthe plane of said front wall, a pair of arcuate tracks provided on therespective side walls including their forwardly projecting portions,

upper and lower doors of an arcuate cross-section movable in respectiveupper and lower portions of said tracks between an open position whereinthe doors are retracted into said casing and a closed position whereinthe doors are in abutment to form a closure for the opening in saidfront wall, means for latching said doors in their closed position, andmeans for stopping the doors in their open position, said tracks beingof sufiicient length whereby a major portion of the upper door isdisposed forwardly of a transverse plane along the vertical diameter ofthe tracks when closed and rearwardly of said plane when open toselectively retain the upper door in the open and closed positions bygravity and whereby a major portion of the lower door is disposedforwardly of said plane when closed and approximately a half thereof isdisposed rearwardly of said plane when open to cause opening of thelower door by gravity when the latching means are released.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D.108,559 Boyce Feb. 22, 1938 111,363 Maxwell Jan. 31, 1871 166,043Volkland July 27, 1875 539,227 Lutes May 14, 1895 636,491 Cohen Nov. 7,1899 933,570 Ludeman Sept. 7, 1909 1,078,795 Meinel Nov. 18, 19131,829,256 Benziger Oct. 27, 1931 2,076,835 Young Apr. 13, 1937 2,148,983Grubb Feb. 28, 1939 2,235,454 Koropchak Mar. 18, 1941 2,288,482Plohberger June 30, 1942 2,408,460 Van Doren Oct. 1, 1946 2,534,488Weber Dec. 19, 1950 2,562,057 Norberg et al. July 24, 1951 2,606,652Jaquette Aug. 12, 1952 2,624,650 Perales Jan. 6, 1953 2,737,781 Gelfandet al. Mar. 13, 1956

